One of the priests on the House of Bishops/Deputies’ listserv had posted a compelling (and convicting) message yesterday, that caught my attention. So I started corresponding with him, to find out what he considered the most urgent need in Africa, and if he could recommend a good charity. He did. Although he said there are probably a lot of good charities out there, he told me about the one his church sponsors, and asked me what I thought about it. The more I read, and the more we corresponded, the more excited I was that I decided to write to him. Here are a few things I like:

1) It has an “Episcopal face”.
2) Most of their work is withinparishes of the Anglican Church of Kenya.
3) It meets the most urgent needs known to the missioners “on the ground” there.
4) It is relatively grassroots.
5) 100% of the money raised goes to the projects listed on the site at the URL below. (All Souls absorbs the credit card and paypal
charges associated with the transactions.)
6) Donations are tax-deductible.
7) On-line donations are as easy as bookmarking the URL, and visiting it periodically.
And most attractive to me, is that all the projects just happen to be cruelty-free!

This quote says it all:

“Our projects are focused on sustainable vegetable agriculture because that is what it takes to keep people from dying of starvation. It is focused on medical care and education especially for the AIDS orphans and urban poor children.”
– the Rev. Michael Russell, Rector, All Soul’s Episcopal Church, San Diego

(Please note that first sentence! He didn’t say animal agriculture is what it takes to keep people from dying of starvation. Remember that when you choose a charity.)

So I want to pass this information along to you, not only for your own charitable consideration, but to share with your congregations and anyone else who would be interested.

(He said that the Nairobi projects need the most help right now, especially raising the money for the water project.)

Please bookmark this site.

For those who don’t feel comfortable donating on-line, checks should be made out to
to All Souls’ Episcopal Church with ate least “Maseno” or “Nairobi” in the memo line.

The address is:

All Soul’s Episcopal Church
1475 Catalina Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92107

If needed for inquiries, the phone # can be found here.

Pictures and journal